A lot of fitness trackers are capable of automatic step counting. A few more can automatically track sleep and even have a guess at what exercise you might be doing at any given time. Some new ones will feature automatic, continuous heart-rate tracking.
But when it comes to food logging especially calorie counting most of them require user input, a sometimes arduous process of finding the right entry in an often incomplete or country specific database. Not so for the GoBe, says manufacturer Healbe at the 2015 International CES. Its wrist-mounted health tracker which it calls a "body manager" is 100 percent automatic, including calorie tracking. It claims to count your calories for you by using an impedance sensor.
The story goes that, after you eat, your glucose levels will begin to rise, which your cells will absorb while they release water. When that's happening, the GoBe is continually using its impedance sensor to shoot high- and low-frequency signals through your body tissue to measure the fluids moving in and out of your cells. From there, Healbe's Flow Technology uses an "advanced algorithm" to analyse the impedance readings and create a picture of your daily nutrition, including automatic calorie count.
If we sound a little cautious in our language around these claims, it's because we haven't tested the device properly, but also because a few publications -- including The Verge -- have pointed out that Healbe hasn't published any peer-reviewed articles about this technology and the company does note that the GoBe isn't intended as a "medical device".
However, that didn't stop nearly 4,500 funders throwing just over $1 million at the device app via Indiegogo back in 2014. Calories claims aside, the device certainly has a striking design. The front face has a grill-like surface that hides an LED display that can show you the time, calories consumed and burned, hydration levels, blood pressure and distance travelled.
The app iOS and Android -- can give you a more detailed breakdown including your sleep patterns and even how much more water you need to consume based on your height, weight and activity level. The device sat comfortably on the wrist, especially given its reasonably large size (maybe too large for people with delicate wrists?), and the double strap system of both a watch-style clasp and a strap peg means it's not going flying off your wrist anytime soon.
According to a spokesperson at the Healbe stand the GoBe battery lasts "about two days". Indiegogo backers should be getting their units very soon, with about a month's wait before it hits general online orders -- at that point you can pick it up for $299.
Food test On the plus side, the experiment involved eating and drinking a meal of our choosing after we rejected HealBe's offer to pick out the food that would be consumed. On the minus side, we did not have the opportunity to try out GoBe ourselves as we were told "it takes time to calibrate" to a specific person, and so the results were based on us stuffing Mr Mikaberydze with snack food. Here's what we fed him:
- Half a cheese and turkey sandwich (125 calories)
- A bottle of apple juice (210 calories)
- A small Snickers chocolate bar (220 calories)
The result was that the software estimated Mr Mikaberydze had eaten 514 calories, which wasn't far off the 555 calories suggested by the food labels. And to be fair, the number was still slowly climbing when we had to part company.
Electrical current The sensor involved uses a technique called bioimpedance, which involves passing an imperceptible electric current through the body to measure its resistance to the effect. Best-selling fitness tracker-maker Jawbone also makes use of bioimpedance in its latest model to measure users' heart rates, and the effect has also been utilised by specialist medical equipment for years. What makes HealBe stand out, however, is that it suggests that it is the first to have developed an algorithm that can turn the bioimpedance reading into a calorie count. "Carbs from the meal convert to glucose, and the glucose goes to the cells. "When glucose goes into the cells, water goes out - that means the water balance changes.
The bioimpedance sensor used measures this water flow, in and out. "And [knowing this] we can build a glucose curve… and calculate the carbs." He adds that since the amount of fat and protein eaten influences the shape of the glucose curve by flattening it, his software can deduce all three nutritional elements, and go on to deliver the calorie intake estimate. He adds that the mathematical equations involved have taken a decade to work out and put into practice. But some medical professionals have disputed the science involved, casting doubt over whether bioimpedance can accurately measure intracellular glucose concentrations.
The blog TechHive memorably concluded that GoBe was the "modern fit-tech version of snake oil", and some of the project's crowd funders have asked - and obtained - their money back. One of the so-called red flags that has caused so many people to doubt HealBe's claims is the theory that if a calorie-counting wristband were possible, one of the bigger tech firms would have already invented it. "Not all the ideas come from the big companies," he says. "Take the example of Tesla.
Its [electric cars] weren't produced by BMW or Mercedes or Chevrolet. "Small companies are more eager to learn something new and to bring something revolutionary to the market." Mr Mikaberydze says 12,000 devices have been manufactured. About half will be delivered to Indiegogo funders, with the remainder going on sale later this month.
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